'UN human rights report biased'

2006-10-09 18:20

Rabat - Morocco assailed on Monday a United Nations report critical of its human rights record in disputed Western Sahara as biased in favour of the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which wants an independent state in the desert territory.

The report by the office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), Louise Arbour, accuses the north African kingdom of denying the right to self-determination of the population in mineral-rich Western Sahara.

The report, leaked to foreign media earlier this month, also accuses Morocco of abusing the rights of pro-independence activists in the territory, including the use of "in proportionate use of force" against protesters there.

"The report adopted an unbalanced approach as it rarely questioned the Polisario allegations while it systematically cast doubt over the Moroccan viewpoint," said foreign minister Mohamed Benaissa.

His letter, printed in Moroccan newspapers on Monday, cited what he called the unfettered movement granted to an OHCHR investigative team in contrast to what Morocco described as the lack of freedom it faced in Saharan refugee camps in southwestern Algeria.

Move triggers low-level guerrilla war

"The report does not do justice to Morocco's full cooperation with the mission while it rewards Algeria's obstructive tactics and evasion as well as manoeuvres and refusal by the Polisario.

"The report presents a grim and completely erroneous image of the situation of the Moroccan Sahara where the population enjoy fully (human) rights."

Morocco, claiming centuries-old rights over the territory rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly offshore oil deposits, annexed the territory after former colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975.

Rabat's move triggered a low-level guerrilla war with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

A UN ceasefire was brokered in 1991 with the promise of holding a referendum on whether the Western Sahara remains under Rabat's control or becomes an independent state.

But disputes about who is eligible to vote have stalled the referendum.

International community tired of deadlock

Rabat's spat with the world body comes just three weeks before the UN security council meets to review the mandate of UN peacekeepers in the disputed territory.

The report was supposed to remain secret, but government sources in Rabat said it was leaked to the media to embarrass Morocco, which is striving to win international backing for its offer to grant the territory autonomy.

Rabat argues the international community is now tired of a three-decade deadlock on Western Sahara and would back its autonomy offer as alternative to a UN promised vote on whether the territory wins independence or remains part of Morocco.

Benaissa said the report gives priority to the right of self-determination to the detriment of political, economic and social rights in Western Sahara, which Rabat sees as the "Moroccan Sahara".

He urged commissioner Arbour to take "all the necessary steps" to redress the report so that the document "mirrors accurately" the human rights situation in Western Sahara, Polisario's bases in southwestern Algeria and in Algeria itself.

- Reuters